Chapter Text
“Levi, some kid wants to see you,” Oluo Bozzard says, pointing behind him and into the hallway. Levi looks up from his desk with a bored expression. This was a junior homeroom and Eren should be at lunch right now, but instead he was there. Waiting for Levi to come out. Or, more like hoping Levi would come out. Levi glanced out the door and looked at his friends who just shrugged. He sighed and stood up.
So Eren Jaeger is fourteen years old, going on fifteen and a freshman in high school, whereas Levi Ackerman was seventeen years old going on eighteen and a junior in high school. Eren has had a crush on Levi ever since he entered this school. But then again, who hasn’t? Levi was the most popular guy in school after all. He wasn’t the tallest, but he was smart, athletic, had the perfect body and face. Perfectly black hair cut into a sexy undercut and steel gray eyes that’ll give you shivers. His friends are the smartest, the funniest, the prettiest, and the hottest. Everyone looks at them like they’re a group of celebrities.
And then, there’s Eren. Eren is dorky looking, always has been, and probably always will be. He wasn’t athletic and he wasn’t all that smart. He was scrawny and weak and didn’t really have any particularly good points to show. His hair was always messy and his clothes looked thrown on, making him look sluggish. He was gay and wasn’t very defensive so people liked to trash talk him a lot. He had big, round glasses that only made his eyes hard to see most of the time. How he managed to see was beyond anyone who took the time to wonder. He also had braces, and he was sort of short. A couple inches shorter than Levi.
Yes, he was that kid. A nobody. Yet, somehow, he managed to find the courage to confess his feelings to the Levi Ackerman. Eren knew Levi was bisexual so he still had a small chance, right? He gulped visibly and loosened the collar of his shirt as Levi walked out of the classroom, looking at Eren dully.
“Do you need something from me, brat?” Levi asks bluntly. His arms were crossed as he looked at Eren with a bored expression and the younger felt his heart skipped a beat. Even as Levi insulted him, Eren couldn’t help but be flustered around him.
“I-I, um…” Eren started intelligently. He cleared his throat. “M-my name is Eren. E-Eren Jaeger. I, um, s-sort of like you. A lot. I-I just really—I mean just… it would mean the world if you’d give going out with me a chance. P-please.” Eren had averted his eyes. He was twiddling his thumbs nervously.
When Levi said nothing Eren glanced at him. Levi still had that same bored expression on his face before he did something Eren wasn’t exactly expecting.
He laughed. It wasn’t exactly a 'laugh,' per se, more of a… a brief chuckle that he stifled with his hand. Like that 'pfft!' sound.
“You?” he asks, with a very much amused smirk. “You want to go out with me?” He snickered again and Eren felt his face heat up and his heartbeat quicken, yet at the same time he felt it sinking. His stomach suddenly hurt. “Look, kid, we’re on two different levels. Completely. Not only are you just a freshman, but frankly, you're also not my type. At all. You’re sloppy and scrawny and honestly, you're not that cute, either.” Levi didn’t seem to feel the least bit of sympathy toward Eren. Eren could feel himself tearing up. He turned and ran, not looking back.
This was such a mistake! He can’t believe he actually confessed. It wasn’t like… he really expected Levi to go out with him. The rejection in itself wasn’t what upset Eren, it was just… just that Levi didn’t have to crush his self-esteem even more! That was totally unnecessary and Eren wasn’t sure how to feel anymore. He’d just gotten his heart broken by the guy he’s been crushing on all year. Eren already knew that he wasn’t the greatest looking! He didn’t need to be told that again! Suddenly he felt angry. Extremely angry. And depressed. He sucked up his tears and took a deep breath before shuffling back into the lunchroom and back over to where his best friends Armin Arlert and Mikasa Ackerman were.
“Eren! What happened? How did it go?” Armin asks, looking worried. Eren looked at him and then at Mikasa. He still wondered why they were friends with him. They both had incredible intelligence, and not to mention they were beautiful. Armin had hair that was sort of long for a boy, but he pulled it off perfectly. He had bright blue eyes and a kind smile. And Mikasa was just a sight to see, with her long black hair and stormy gray eyes. She was strong and smart. Mikasa usually had to protect Eren, which was embarrassing but he couldn’t say he was ungrateful—though, it was another reason he got picked on, honesty.
“He turned me down, of course,” Eren grits out, clenching his fists. “He said that we were on two different levels. That I was sloppy and weak and unattractive… The outcome was obvious, right? He’s right. I’m nothing to look at.”
“That’s not true, Eren!” Armin says quickly. “I mean, uh, if you took off your glasses you’d probably look really cute..!” Eren could hear the hesitance in his voice. Even his best friend knew he just wasn’t attractive.
“This is just something you’ll have to work through,” Mikasa says, trying to sound encouraging. Eren clicked his tongue, irritated.
“Whatever,” he mutters, standing up.
“Eren, where are you going?” Mikasa asks, standing up, too.
“I feel sick. I’m going home,” he says and leaves to the nurse’s office. Just one more month of school and then Eren would be free of that hellhole… One, long month…
Eren ended up going home, faking a headache and stomachache. He had to walk home, his parents being at work. He decided to just take a walk to cool his head. He was so pissed off. His heart was in pain and he just wanted to scream.
As he walked he was suddenly shoved into the fence behind him.
“Well, well, if it isn’t Jaeger!” the guy says with a hearty laugh, grabbing Eren by the front of his shirt and keeping his back pressed firmly into the fence.
“R-Reiner…” Eren stutters out. He was definitely not in the mood for this guy’s harassment. “Let me go.”
“Why? You like guys, right? You probably enjoy being this close to me,” Reiner sneers. “Fuckin’ faggot.”
Eren grabbed Reiner’s wrist, trying to pull him off.
“I said let go,” Eren grits out, trying to keep his voice even. He didn't want to show that he was scared, even if Reiner already knew it.
“Aww, did I make the little queer angry?” Reiner asks, cooing. Eren could feel his anger building up, but he knew that he couldn’t do a thing about it. “You’re just a damned fairy. You can’t even protect yourself.” And with that, Reiner took his fist and slammed it into Eren’s stomach. He groans in pain and holds his stomach weakly.
Reiner Braun was a sophomore at Trost High, an all-boys school. He's 6’1 and extremely strong, not to mention he was also fucking ripped. He had short blonde and squinty golden-brown eyes. He usually had two accomplices. Bertolt Hoover and Annie Leonhart. Bertolt was 6’4 with short black hair and Annie was 5’ with long blonde hair she kept in a ponytail. She was extremely tiny, but she was probably even stronger than Reiner.
Luckily, those two weren't with Reiner today. Although, that was probably because they were still in school. So then why the hell was Reiner not in school? Annie went to Eren’s school, so he had to deal with her as well as others in and outside of school. He knew she was at school because just that morning she and her friend Hitch had shoved him into a trashcan before the first bell rang.
As for Bertolt… well, since he’s not with Reiner, Eren was assuming he was still at school. And Bertolt and Reiner are almost never apart, so the fact Reiner was here just proved Eren had shit luck. Unless you count the other two not being here lucky…
Eren glared at Reiner weakly from behind his glasses before shakily asking,
“W-why are you even here? Shouldn't you be at school…?”
“That makes two of us,” Reiner snorts.
“I left early with permission,” Eren mutters.
“I skipped school because I wanted to,” Reiner retorts with a grin. “Lucky day, right? You get to see me. And I have a friend who goes to my school with me, today. He's been dying to meet you.” Eren’s eyes widen. Oh shit, another one? This was definitely not his day…
“Jean! Where the fuck did you go?” Reiner calls out. He still had Eren pinned to the fence, his grip firm on the front of his button down. A moment later some tall ashy blonde guy comes out. He looked about 5’9. He was wearing a sleeveless black shirt and skinny jeans with a pair of Doc Martens. He was muscular but still thin. Fit, would probably be the word to describe him. He had pierced ears and his blonde hair was cut into an undercut, the bottom half looking more like a brunette color. Eren swallowed thickly. He looked intimidating.
“Who’s he?” Jean asks, nodding to Eren.
“The fag I was telling you about,” Reiner says. Jean hums in acknowledgment, looking Eren up and down before smirking.
“Gross,” Jean laughs. Eren felt his heart skip a beat. Gross? He’d been called a lot of things—fag, queer, fairy, pansy, cocksucker, cock jockey, face fucker, fruit, anal assassin, pillow biter… You name it. But gross? Just for liking other guys? He could feel tears welding in his eyes. This is exactly the type of thing he got picked on for. Being weak.
Reiner pulled him off the fence a bit before shoving him right back into it, except harder, causing the brunette to let out a pained grunt
“He’s a total wimp,” Reiner says. “And today, he doesn't have his precious Mikasa to save him.”
“Let me go!” Eren yells, trying helplessly to squirm out of Reiner’s grasp. Jean approaches Eren and the German freezes. Reiner pulls Eren roughly away from the fence, letting go for only a second before he was holding Eren in a half nelson, making him unable to get away. Jean walked towards him, cracking his knuckles. Eren’s whole body tensed up as Jean’s fist collided with his face. Eren cried out in pain, but didn’t have much time to do anything else as Jean’s fist came again, this time connecting with his stomach, same spot Reiner had hit earlier. Eren coughed and wheezed, the wind being knocked out of him.
“You are really fuckin’ helpless!” Jean laughs with a menacing smile. Eren looks at him weakly. Jean kicked him in the side and Eren grunted, tears falling as he tried to catch his breath. Reiner let go of him and Eren fell to his hand and knees, panting. Reiner took the chance to kick Eren again, knocking him over. He couldn’t breathe, he could hardly even cry out as the two pummeled him. He curled up into a fetal position, crying. They called him names as they injured him, only making the pain he felt worse.
So weak, so helpless… He couldn’t do a damn thing to protect himself. He was scared and hurting inside and out. It hurt and he wanted it all to just go away. Away, away, away…!
“Please… stop…” Eren whimpered quietly, crying out as Reiner’s foot ground into his stomach. “Please…!”
They did, soon enough, getting bored of hurting Eren.
“See ya’ later, cock sucking loser!” Reiner calls over his shoulder with a laugh as they walk away. Eren just lays there, too weak to stand up. He sobbed and slowly, shakily pushed himself up and limped to his house.
Dad said he wasn’t going to be back home until tomorrow evening… Mom’s working the late shift today… Eren sighs to himself. He unlocked his door and walked in, closing it behind him and making sure it was locked. He stumbled to his room and flopped onto his bed, in too much pain to do anything else. He decided to try and sleep it off.
He took off his glasses and tried to get comfortable, closing his eyes. Things just got ten times worse now that there’s a fourth guy added to his regular bullying session. Eren touched his side and winced, sighing before soon drifting off into a restless sleep.